Press Record had a chat with Sean Pollard of Perth band Split Seconds to catch up on the music scene in Perth, touring and recording some new tracks.
You guys have just penned a new track up on the J’s called Top Floor, where did the song originate from? Musically it's a result of us mucking about with a Roland SPD-S that we bought from a guy named Carlos in Shoreditch. We had to get the bus out and met him in this closed pub. He still had all of his dance music samples on there and there was just this really basic drum beat that I liked a lot. So we decided we'd build on that. Lyrically it's about an adventure I had on a similar bus with a couple of European tourists who were a bit too far into each other.
The band’s based in Perth, and I’ve heard some legendary bands from there and wanted to know if the music scene there is as spectacular as it seems? Yeah at times it's pretty speccy. Perth has a pretty small scene in terms of venues and a relatively tiny pool of musicians that fill them so everyone stays pretty good friends, play in each others bands and whatnot. It's definitely growing although I feel like it's been on a pretty constantly good wicket for a few years now.
Where do you get the inspiration to write some of your beautiful songs? Thanks for saying they're beautiful! I get a lot of inspiration from every day life, I'm not much of a daydreamer or a fantasist (don't like Game of Thrones) so I try to just try to keep to the little details. I guess sometimes people can relate to that a little bit.
I just read a tweet you guys put out (@splitsecondss) about Rhys eating three bags of M&M’s before recording. My question is: is he insane or just iron willed? Tell him he’s a massive beast for me. I won't tell him because that will just encourage him. He actually ate the M&M's while he was recording. We sent him out to get some drinks and he just came back with bulk M&M's. He's the kind of guy that if you sent him out to get insurance, he'd come back with magic beans. The weird thing about him though, is that you can't create it. Like, he loves Alan's snakes so much. Whenever we stay in a hotel he ALWAYS eats the snakes from the mini bar and pays for them afterwards. But if you actually give him a big bag of snakes he won't touch them. So weird.
You’re releasing an album this year, what do you think it’s sounding like at the moment? Is it an evolution from your previous sound? Yeah definitely it's an evolution. I wrote the EP pretty much on my own after a long stint in other bands. So I was deliberately trying not to write for a band and I think you can hear that in a sense. It's very insular. The album is a lot more energetic and band oriented and a lot more emotionally accessible.
Apart from music, what’s your one passion in life? AFL Dream Team.
In preparation for your new tour with UNDERLIGHTS, what’s been your best moment as a band on the road? On the Jebediah tour we were driving up through a nice part of Sydney to borrow some dudes drum kit when we saw 2 pretty expensive looking puppies running down the street without a leash. We stopped the van, took off after them and eventually corralled them into stopping and chilling with us. We called the number on their collars and eventually returned them to panicked owners. That was pretty great. Homebake was cool too.
Finally, which Australian live acts should we go and see this year? Go see Emperors and also Dune Rats, I heard they are great!
Press Record's Kate English had a chat to Maccabees guitarist Hugo White about their first time coming to Australia, their new record Given To The Wild and their future plans.
You guys are about to head to Australia for the first time; are you excited? Yeah! We’re really excited, it’s something we’ve wanted to do for a long time. We’ve been a band for like eight years done and we’ve done three records and we still haven’t been to Australia so it’s been a long time coming.
Do you think you’ll get any opportunities to do a bit of sight seeing or get a bit of time off while you’re here? Well we’re doing a lot of shows because we’re doing the festivals (The Maccabees are performing at all Groovin The Moo shows), and on the days we aren’t doing the festival we’re doing our own shows so we’re going to be pretty busy but we’re definitely going to make the effort to try and do some nice things!
You’re playing the Groovin The Moo festival, which is a festival that tours the regional towns in Australia, giving people who live in those areas and ordinarily might not get the chance to see a lot of live music the opportunity to catch some amazing acts. Do you think it’s important to have events like this for regional areas occasionally? Definitely! It’s a difficult thing with touring in smaller towns, you get it in England as well, there are some places that bands just seem to skip. It might be due to lack of venues or issues with accessibility, or whether there is a major town nearby or not so I think it is an important thing. It’s only fair isn’t it! *laughs*
After Australia you’re heading off to Japan and Germany and New York; going all over the place; how do you deal with constantly being on the road? Oh we love it! It’s great you know, it’s really fun and we’re all great friends so it’s a pretty amazing job to be able to do this and we get to go to places we wouldn’t usually get to visit . It’s one of the perks of being in the band I guess that we get to do these things so we don’t take it for granted.
Is it nice being able to experience all of this with your brother or do you find you sort of regress to your childhood self going on a family holiday? *laughs* No it’s really great, it’s funny actually because we probably argue less than anyone in the band so it’s quite a nice thing to have him there. I’ve always got someone to back me up *laughs* It’s actually really nice.
Does it ever get overwhelming to know that you’ve already got your whole year planned out for you? Yeah it does, especially at the beginning of the year when the record came out we were in England and we literally had our diary booked for the whole year. Because we’d been in the studio for two years making the record and hadn’t really been away, just spending lots of time in the studio, seeing that calendar, I mean, even looking at it was pretty scary. We had to kind of try not to look at it *laughs* We get these emails telling us where to go everyday so it’s like ‘ok, we’re here this day and then we’re over there this day’ so we just focus on that. We’ve done quite a big chunk of it now though, we’ve been touring since January so we’re cutting our way through it and we’re all still alive and doing well!
Do you find it tends to become one big blur or do certain things and tours and events stand out for you? Certain tours do, we toured Europe in February and it was stone cold; like minus 30 in some places! So what I remember of the whole thing is just being freezing cold *laughs* Just sitting in the dressing rooms trying not to freeze to death! I’m sure things like Australia and Japan will be stand outs, but when you mix it all together it’s all just really great. And things like playing to really big crowds is really great because it gives us the chance to put on big performances and have big production shows. Coming to Australia for the first time, that’s a really exciting thing for us to do, I think we’ll be totally buzzing just from the fact that we’re actually there. There’s no time to be miserable!
Well I can promise you it’s not minus 30 here; it was 20 degrees today and I thought it was freezing! Did you ever think going into the recording of Given To The Wild that it would be such a huge success? Did you have any goals or objectives in mind? Not at all, when we were writing the record and got half way through it we were pretty convinced that we were making a lo-fi record that people might not got and it wouldn’t be as easy to get. We had this feeling that it was going to be a bit of a difficult album for people to understand. We sent the record label the first demos we’d done and they got back to us going “are you sure you want to do this?” and we were like “yeah yeah! This is a serious record!”. So we didn’t really know. Obviously we always believed in the record and we thought it was great, it’s just amazing that other people have seen what we’ve seen in it. That’s the biggest pay off you can get really, to have other people feel the way you felt making it and the way you feel about the finished product.
What made you want to work with (producer) Tim Goldsworthy on the record? Because he isn’t really from the indie music scene did that mean he was able to offer some insight into other genres and areas and ideas you might not have experimented with otherwise? Yeah definitely, we all know what we’re doing production wise now so we thought if we went someone that just recorded guitar bands then there’s not really any point in doing that, so working with Tim was really to try and work with someone that had a different perspective and didn’t really do that sort of music. He’s worked with people like Massive Attack and they’re obviously from very different worlds. In that sense it was really great because if we were trying to achieve something he was able to show us how to achieve it which was great.
How have some of the new tracks been translating live? Did you have much time between finishing recording the album and touring to figure out some of your tracks in a live capacity? Yeah, we’re still figuring it out! We’ve just had a week where we’ve figured out the last few songs that we haven’t played from the record so now that we’ve done that we’ve got the whole record ready to go. It definitely is an important thing because some of the songs have to be adapted just because of the way it was done; it was recorded as a studio record and we didn’t really think too much when we were making it about playing it live. Transferring it over to a live setting is almost bringing a new life to it and it all works really well. We’ve got my younger brother doing all the samples and things that we can’t play as a band touring with us the whole time which is great, we’ve had to take on another member really to pull off the songs.
Have you got a favourite song off the new album to play live? Pelican was the first single off the album and that’s pretty quickly become like a moment at the shows so that’s a real crowd pleaser. But for me, probably Grew Up At Midnight, which is the last song on the record and we end on that live. It’s a big kind of closing track and that’s always great to do. It’s one of those songs that you can’t really put in the middle of a set, it has to be the last song, there’s no two ways about it so that’s probably my favourite to play live.
You’ve had the chance to tour alongside and play with some amazing artists, is there anyone in particular that you loved touring with? Yeah well we’ve had the opportunity to play with a lot of people that we really look up to, people who were the reason we started the band really. We’ve got to play with The Strokes and Interpol, and they were bands who early on for us were like the biggest things in the world for us! You see bands as that sort of unreachable at first, you know, and then you’re touring with them. And then in a year or so you’re playing at the same time as them at a festival and we just look at that and like, two years ago we were looking up to that and now we actually are doing that. It’s always a privilege to be able to play with bands that you love.
Whoa that’s amazing! Do you ever get starstruck anymore or is it all sort of everyday occurrences now? *laughs* Yeah a while ago we met Jay Z and that was pretty scary! We didn’t even really meet him, he just sort of walked past us and nodded at us and we all kind of froze. We were pretty starstruck then, you wouldn’t have got any words out of us! The other day we were having the discussion about meeting Bob Dylan and that’s one of the scariest things I think. We love Bob Dylan so we were having the debate of if you saw Bob Dylan would you talk to him or not? You know, because of the fear of ruining it so that’s still in debate *laughs*
What does the future hold for the Maccabees? What’s your ultimate dream of where you want to go as a band? Ummm it’s difficult you know, we try not to think about it too much or make too many plans. We’ve always said we’re a band who wanted to make five records and we’re kind of on the way to that but for the moment, the only plans are just to do this record justice and to have a great tour and really get a taste of places like Australia and America. And then just make sure we make the next record better!
Well thank you so much for your time, I can’t wait to see you play in Australia! Yeah thanks so much, we’re really looking forward to it we’ll see you there!
Press Record's Tom Waterman had a quick chat with Calling All Cars frontman Haydn Ing about all things touring, new music and infamously getting knocked out mid set at the Sydney Big Day Out.
You guys are one of the bigger touring bands in Australia at the moment, what do you do to survive the constant touring? We actually have a personal life coach/ nutritionist that we take on the road with us. We call him the 'green grocer'. He's all about eating your greens. Stuff like bok choy, baby spinach, adolescent spinach, broccoli, etc… We also like to work by the motto: On the other hand, we have different fingers.
You’re working on a new album at the moment; when are we likely to see the finished product hitting the shelves? Not sure just yet. It's still early days. We're just writing as much as possible at this stage. But I can tell you this… It will be awesome.
I have to ask about your most recent cover of LCD Soundsystems’ Drunk Girls, what inspired that, and what generally inspires a band like yours to do a cover? We actually just came up with the idea… "Hey, let's record a cover." So we all threw some ideas out there of what we could do, and agreed upon 'Drunk Girls'. We had no plan or idea of how the song would turn out, we just went into the studio, and that's what we came out with. We're pretty happy with it. Plus, we literally like drunk girls.
Advice time, and trust me you guys are more than qualified to provide, what’s the one thing you can recommend a young band do to get their name out there? Extremes. Do everything extreme. If it's hard work, you're probably heading in the right direction. And don't stop. That's about it.
I actually just read quite a story off your Wikipedia page about Haydn being knocked out at the Sydney Big Day Out, can you confirm or deny that Haydn was pleading to finish the show in the ambulance? It could use a citation to prove how awesome you guys are. Yes, this is true. I copped a stray elbow to my jaw and was out cold for about 10mins. I woke up in a stretcher going into an ambulance, had no idea what was going on or what city I was in. The nurse said "You were just knocked out playing at BDO in Sydney." I was like, "Oh, cool." As we were heading to the hospital, it all came back to me at once, and I said "turn around, I'll go back on." But they laughed and said "No. You need to have scans done." Then they gave me an inhalant for the pain, and all was good.
Finally, which live acts should Australia look out for this year? Redcoats. Their new album is due out soon, and if it sounds anything like those guys look, it's going to be a sexy album.
Describe Ben Wells & The Middle Names in 5 words? Indie pop heaps of fun.
How was playing Falls fest in 2011 compared with playing in 2010, was anything different? The second time round we were definitely more prepared to play such a big festival. We knew all about what went on so we felt a lot more comfortable in the backstage surroundings. We could just focus on playing a good set.
What has been your personal highlight in the band so far? My personal highlight was winning Unearthed to play Falls 2011, it summed up a really awesome year and we had a reasonably big crowd so it was a big step for us.
What’s the Tasmanian music scene like, do you think you’ll eventually move out of Tasmania to a more central area? The Tassie music scene is growing really quickly, there are some awesome bands coming out of Tassie, it’s just the rest of Australia hasn’t heard them yet. Although it does make touring expensive, living in Hobart has its advantages so I think we’ll stay here for now.
Who would you most like to tour with? I’d most like to go on tour with Arcade Fire. They have been one of my biggest musical Influences of late and the shows they put on look amazing!
Who are your main musical influences? Again, Arcade Fire, Darren Hanlon, The National, Something For Kate, Cat Stevens. The list and genres are pretty broad.
What’s next for Ben Wells & The Middle Names? We’re going on tour in May, 11 with shows along the east coast. The first show is at Black Bear Lodge on the 3rd of May.
The Bloodpoets are a dynamic, diverse and established Brisbane band and definitely one to keep an eye on. Their lead vocalist and guitarist, Tom Murphy takes time out on his busy ANZAC Day holiday to have a relaxed chat to Press Record’s Emma-Kay Christensen about their latest single, War and their upcoming tour.
For those who aren’t familiar, what can you tell us about The Bloodpoets? Well, while I was travelling around Europe I was busking to make a little money to live. One of my friends in Germany introduced me to his friend, and as it turned out his friend was a sound engineer in a small studio in Germany. So I stuck around and wrote and recorded some songs, which then formed an album around 2006. I played all the instruments and got a friend to play drums. I brought that album back to Australia and used it to shop for solo gigs while looking around for band members. Then in 2009 The Bloodpoets were formed and we subsequently recorded our first album, “Polarity”,
The latest single is “War”. Who wrote that and what’s the inspiration behind the song? I wrote it after I saw Roger Waters play in concert and realised he had a lot of songs from a war angle. I had never really been a Pink Floyd fan, having been essentially a huge fan of The Beatles. His music really blew my mind and I was musically awakened. I went away and did a lot of research on war crimes and realised the extent of the prejudice against innocent victims such as civilians being murdered and beaten for their beliefs, lack of freedom speech. I got really mind fucked by the extent of it all; I wasn’t looking to ever write a war song, but I got really angry about things and that’s how the song originated.
There’s a new album being released this year – how’s the progress with that? Well, we’re looking to release it in late August at this stage. The single, “War” is going really well, and we’re really happy with its progress and attention it’s receiving, both locally and in different countries. We might release another single before we release the whole album, which is half done at this stage. We’re working with Jeff Lovejoy of Black Box Recording who has worked with artists like Spiderbait, so it’s quite an honour.
The Bloodpoets are playing this Friday night at the Hi-Fi with Bang Bang Boss Kelly and DJ Sarah Howells (Triple J Presenter). How are you feeling about the upcoming show and what can people expect at a Bloodpoets gig? We’ve always been noted for being diverse in our sound. We pump out pop songs, slower songs and also really thrashy sounding songs and “smash your head off” kind of songs – a real mix. This time around we’re playing a new set which includes “War” and songs from our new album, including our next single, “Riot”.
Being from Brisbane, where are we likely to spot you hanging out? We love going to X & Y for a drink and also to GPO, which now has new owners - They put on more indie bands, and have changed their dress code so there’s fewer douche bags and a much better vibe. Food wise, Tutto Cafe Espresso Bar at Ashgroveis a great place to grab a cheap big breakfast or coffee!
Catch The Bloodpoets with Bang Bang Boss Kelly, DJ Sarah Howells (and Rawr Vanity) this Friday night at The Hi Fi. Tickets available from Moshtix or check out facebook.com/thebloodpoets
Melbourne’s Fantasy-Pop singer/songwriter Owl Eyes (Brooke Addamo) has taken some time out from recording her upcoming album to chat with Press Record’s Natalie Kirby about her upcoming Crystalisedtour, song writing and elaborate headdresses.
First of all congratulations on your new single Crystalised! I have been listening to it for three days now, it so catchy and has incorporated the very atmospheric sound of Owl Eyes. Thanks heaps! [Giggles]
So you are about to take some time out from recording and embark on your Crystalised tour, which will see you playing at some intimate venues across the East coast and Adelaide in May. What are you feelings about breaking away from recording to go on this tour? Yeah it is good in a sense that I will be testing out new music and new ideas, it’s good to be able to test out a few new things and take them back to the studio.
So where are you recording at the moment? All over the place! I’m working with a few different people; my friend Geoff Baker, Jan (Jan Skubiszeniki , Jackson Jackson), who I have worked with on my last two EP’s, he is like my musical big brother who will probably end up producing my album. I am also working with a producer called Styles. I’m kind of….mixing it up.
It must be good to have a person like Jan around, so you can bounce your ideas off one another... Yeah definitely, he really is a musical big brother, even in life he is a big brother! He is just a great person to have around and a great person to fall back on; when I’m stuck he is always there.
Where would you like this album to be heading? Crystalised is very fun and upbeat, it was kind of a song that I wrote for a live audience, I’ve never really written a song like that. I thought I would write a song that would be fun to play live. I never expected to put it out but it got such a great reaction so I decided to put it out in between my EP and album. I feel like the album is a little bit more electronic, just by what I am inspired by. The rest of the album is not as upbeat as Crystalised but itis more about dealing with pop music’s darker scenes and underlying things underneath the music. It is definitely going to have a little bit of an electronic feel, just not as upbeat as Crystalised.
I am glad that you have mentioned the underlying factors of your songs. I recall just before your Triple J like a version performance of Pumped Up Kicks, you said that you chose the song because ‘’it is an upbeat pop song but is more sinister and has a bit more substance behind the pop’’. I find it amazing how a song can be interpreted in many different ways without people realising what the song is really about. It’s good that music is like that and you can interpret it the way that you want. I feel like I try and do that with my music; it is predominantly pop, but my writing style is putting underlying factors underneath, it’s not all rainbows. It’s still pop music and it’s still fun, I mean I really love that, that’s why I chose that song; I can really relate to that writing style.
So 2011 was a very big year for you with your second EP Raiders gaining airplay across Australia and overseas, not to mention the extensive amounts of gigs and tours that you have played and been on. What are your expectations for 2012? You never really know, I am hoping to head overseas and play at some festivals, and I’m focusing on my album and this upcoming tour and experimenting. You never really know what’s around the corner!
You’re coming to Brisbane on the 25th of May, playing at Oh Hello. What can the people of Brisbane expect from this tour, maybe some more elaborate head dresses? [Laughs] I don’t know about head dresses but there will definitely be a lot of new music. I’ll always have some kind of costume, I love that, I’m a really visual person so I do like to draw on those aspects. I’m going to buy some more instruments today , the band and I are workshopping a few things to make it as exciting as possible. I can’t wait to come to Brisbane and play some music and get out there!
Press Record's Beau Sharpe sat down with Darren King of Mutemath, (albeit, on different sides of the planet) to discuss the US leg of the “Odd Soul” tour, their upcoming Australian tour, recording, life on the road, natural disasters and life in general earlier this week.
Hey, how are you? Where are you today? I'm in Boston, Massachusetts today on tour with my wife. We just finished a leg of the Mutemath U.S tour and I flew straight out to join her tour. She's traveling and performing with one of her bands here at the moment. I actually get to be an audience member tonight, which is a welcome change.
You recently directed a video for one of her projects, how was that experience? Oh yeah, That's a different project though, that's her solo project called Sucre I did a film clip for her song When We Were Young that was very different, I'm very proud of that. It was great getting to work with her and a lot of fun. She's in a band with her family as well called Eisley and they're on tour right now, so we're both staying pretty busy these days.
Speaking of keeping busy, how has the Odd Soul tour been so far? You guys have played a lot of shows over the last couple of months... Well as I mentioned, we just finished one leg of the Odd Soul tour in the states, and it was the best I've ever been on. It was my favourite tour. I was really proud of the production, really proud of the video aspect of the show. We played 27 feet tall every night, so having never done anything quite that intense before, it certainly took my body a little time to adjust to such an arduous schedule. Actually it wasn't really arduous, it was more the fact that by the end of every show, even though I was full of adrenaline and testosterone I would crash pretty hard and sleep for 11 or 12 hours every single night. It was wonderful really, I let myself be a bit of a slug, (laughs) a bit of a slob throughout the day so I would have enough energy to play the shows, but we've all had the most wonderful time on this tour.
I know a lot of people are excited that you guys are finally coming down to Australia soon. I can't wait to get to Australia! I've been counting my days off over there, trying to decide what I'm going to do. Maybe I'll go snorkeling or something! I'm feeling pretty thankful right about now. When we went through Armistice and even the creation of this record, those were pretty hard times for us, so I'm thankful that things have gotten busier again and that, for whatever reason, suddenly Australia has taken interest in us. I am thrilled by that!
You guys have been rolling with quite a large production on this tour, intricate sets, 3D video backgrounds, all of it on a much larger scale than the Armistice tour which was impressive in it's own right. How did you go about preparing everything this time around? We've had a pretty intense preparation period for this tour, weeks of rehearsals, and weeks prior to that bringing together the 3D Video. If you look up what's called “Video Mapping”, that's what we did for this tour. Basically you project video onto 3D structures and make the video follow the contours of the structure. So we did that. I, myself, made about 6 of the background video's for me, then we hired individuals in New York and National to create more videos for the show. Then of course there was the confetti every night. Paul (Meany; lead vocalist/keyboardist) also had a vision involving an inflatable mattress that we wrapped in battery operated police lights that basically becomes this inflatable disco stage that he can float out on/into the crowd on. That's always a very exciting part of the show. We did everything we could to try and put the show into the crowd and make the audience as much a part of the show as possible this time around. We also had a small rolling stage I would go out on, roll out to the centre of the crowd and do a drum solo from there, that was pretty cool. All that stuff aside though, we really feel that the new album is more suited to a live show than anything we've ever done. Paul's acquisition of an old 1920's Organ was a big step forward for us as well, its much bigger so he's more able to express himself physically as it allows him a platform for all kinds of crazy dance moves and shenanigans.
What can Australian audiences expect when the tour hits the country? Everything we do is to get to the show, the whole reason we make records is to get to the show. To give us something to play and connect with people at the show, so this is a big deal for us. Tickets have been selling well, which is very exciting! I'm particularly excited for you guys to see Roy (Mitchell-Cardenas - bassist). I have a few Australian friends and something tells me you guys are going to love him especially. He's kind of a bad ass. (laughs) Sadly, renting the projectors was going to be far too costly. We tried really hard to come up with some sort of fabric version of the structure that we could set up but it didn't work out this time. However our lighting engineer, Darien Koop, will be coming over with us and he's great. He's an amazing talent. We'll be bringing the inflatable battery operated police light stage thing with us as well, so we'll do as much as we can to keep it exciting and put on a great visual show, that's always important to us, but as it stands I don't think we can do the video portion. Maybe next time.
Both Paul and Roy have recently become fathers, how has that affected their mindset on tour? Oddly enough, the fact that Paul and Roy have become fathers has made them both better performers than ever before. I think something about having kids has given them a little more determination and a little more passion that they perform and play with. I know they're tired a lot, but they run on what they call “daddy energy” (laughs).
You have some very interesting tracks on the new record, which songs seem to translate the best in a live environment? Thank you! It does change night to night, but consistently, Prytania, Quarantine and Odd Soul. Cavalries is always great, definitely a lot of fun for me. The songs are all really quite enjoyable, you know. Every night there are songs that might have been better the previous night, songs that are better that night, you know. It really changes from night to night, every song has it's own night. I've always wondered why different audiences react differently to one particular song more than others. It might just be how it comes together, it might be the collective disposition of the people there, but I know this much, I've even had more fun playing our older songs on this tour than ever before.
This time around you guys recorded and produced the new record yourselves, how did that experience differ for you compared to earlier recording experiences? Well as we were recording, because we didn't have a producer, there was nobody there to stifle me or edit my beats in any way. So I got to do as many fills as I wanted. Or at least as many as Paul would allow me to have. (laughs) Thankfully he's a drummer at heart, so I didn't really have anyone to tell me I was doing too many fills. I just did as many as I could. (laughs). The whole record is pretty fun for me, it's a little indulgent, but I enjoy it. I feel better about the drums on this record than any I've ever done before. The one thing we set out to do this time was to make an album that we thought would be a lot of fun for us to play live and hopefully because of that, a lot of fun to listen to. From night to night, so far that's held true.
In the past you guys have experimented a lot with different recording techniques in the studio and recording in general, are there any techniques that have become constant when you're recording now? Well we always mic up the drums differently, but we always run those mics into an old amp with lots of spring reverb, then mic up that amp to get those big echoey drum sounds. Sometimes it stands out more. The end of Quarantine for example, gets some really reverby drum sounds. I love that.
Were there any unique recording processes used in the studio for “Odd Soul”? We did a little bit of over-dubbing and mixing in L.A and while we were there, one of my drum heroes, Jim Kelper, was at the studio. He played drums for John Lennon and so many other great artists. He had this crazy thing that I'd never seen before. I googled it and tried hard to find one. It's called a “Brazilian Drum Tree”; it had six different drums all hanging off a stand, It looked like a Christmas tree without any branches, then it had six arms with these two little handles. The handles were attached to ropes that had little reeds at the end end of them. The reeds would hit three drums at a time on each shot, so it sounded like a bunch of little tiny snare drums. I actually did a very bad thing there one night when everyone else had left the studio. Something which looking back, I think was completely immoral of me. Jim wasn't there, but his drum tree was, so while the guys that run the studio were talking in another room, I took my laptop and ran into Jim's room, mic'd up that drum tree and quickly recorded a few things really fast. The owners of the studio caught me and yelled at me and I felt really bad, but that actually made it on to the album. At the end of Quarantine, that sound comes in. I love that part and I love that sound, so I'm torn about that. I'm really thankful that I did that, but I knew it wasn't right to do. I don't know what I'm going to do about it now though (laughs). So I guess one of the techniques unique to this album is technically called thievery (laughs).
Over the years, you've made quite a few video's using a similar techniques, Is there a reason you tend to stick to the one directive state? Are there any Mutemath videos that stand out to you? I feel like Typical, Spotlight and Blood Pressure are kind of the same video. They're all really similar, they're all single camera. You take one camera trick, whether it's reverse, performing the song slowed down then speed it up afterwards to compensate, or a sort of stop motion animation with video. Then we just exhausted the live performance and ran around like goof balls for a little bit... So those three video's are very similar. I'm particularly thankful for Typical because it got us to the Grammy's, you know? I got to see some of the most wonderful performances there in person, so that was an exciting time. I'm ambitious to make more video's though, I can't wait to make one that's not single camera. Something with a story to it. I'd really love to do one that's all animation, but at the same time I'm really proud of all our video's and I loved making them. We've had some that didn't quite make it, one that I'm really fond of called Paper Darren. We made it for an instrumental version of Noticed. I look back on it now and wish I'd finished it. I wish I'd made a minute more of animation so we could have had a proper video for that song. I feel like we missed an opportunity there. I feel like we had a really good pop song there back in the day, but C'est La Vie.
Being from New Orleans, You guys have had a lot of experience with major flooding. Do you have any advice for your Australian fans dealing with floods and flood damage? Oh yeah, flooding is something we're very familiar with, we went through Hurricane Katrina, then after that we were affected by the floods in National. Actually the National flood did us in worse because we always leave for tour from National. We do most of our rehearsals and most of our work in New Orleans, but we always leave from National because that's where all the bus companies are and there's this great rehearsal space there. So we all park our vehicles and our van and everything there, we had left for a tour a couple of years ago and a few days into the tour, National flooded. The water ended up reaching the top of our van, which is about seven or eight feet deep. We were parked right next to the Concordia River, a lot of our gear was destroyed, Roy's upright bass was ruined. Cracked, waterlogged, etc... He had just recently had it rebuilt as well. As far as advice, the one thing I know about flooding is don't try to swim in it. That can be really bad. There are all kinds of creepy under-currents. Bad Idea. Sadly, a lot of the people that died in Hurricane Katrina died after the Hurricane because they tried to swim through the water and they got caught up in these strange currents as the water was receding. Other than that, I don't really have any advice, only sympathy and condolences to people going through that kind of stuff. I hate it.
On a lighter note, do you have anything to say to your Australian fans? Yes! Hello! Looking forward to meeting you guys! I can't believe this, see I was raised in a small town in Missouri for the first eighteen years of my life. Everyday I just dreamt of traveling the world. So for me, whenever we get to go to a new country, new cities, we get to play music there and people pay for our flights, pay to watch us play... I don't take that lightly at all. We all fully intend to play the best we can, put on the best show we can produce, and give you guys everything we have to offer. Hopefully we'll be back again soon as well.
Do you have any advice for any aspiring artists? Absolutely! Carl Sandburg said “I was either going to be a writer or a bum”. I love that quote. If you have no plan B, if there's nothing else that excites you, keeps you up until the sun comes up working on it, that you would go really far into debt and get really lonely for? Your chances are a lot better I think. If that's you, then you should never feel any guilt about it. That's something I dealt with. The guilt of whether or not a career in music was a waste of life, because I loved it. I felt like there must be a greater cause, there had to be more, but I'm a drummer, that's what I do. I'm a drummer and I drum because I'm a drummer. I have to. That's how I was made. I don't think you should think even once about the fact that there's a million other people having the same realisation at the same time. Follow your heart.
Good advice! You recently had a line-up change with Mutemath, Todd Gummerman has joined the ranks on guitar and various other things. How is he settling into the band so far? Todd is fitting in wonderfully! He has a great personality and he's a great musician. He's actually a keyboardist at heart, He just picked up the guitar because that's what we needed. He's always played guitar, but he kills on keys, absolutely crushes people. Whenever he and Paul get together and play, that's a very special thing. He's so talented, It only took him a month or so to get his chops up on guitar and be ready to play with us. We're very happy and proud to have him on board.
What do the next 12 months have in store for yourself and the band? Well after we go to Australia, we go to Alaska next, which is the last of the U.S states for me. It's the only state I haven't been to yet which is pretty cool. Excited to check that off the list. We've been invited to a few other countries, I can't mention them yet, but we have a fair bit of international travel in store for us. I'm about to turn 30 as well and I've realised recently what I want to do more than ever; I want to make stuff that I'm proud of with people that I love and respect. So that means remixes of songs that I like with friends; I'll be making some more music videos, making albums, writing songs, putting shows together. I just want to make so much stuff! I want to make art, be an entertainer, make music, the whole song and dance. All that. Then also I think I'm going to take a break at some point, my wife would like for me to take her to France, that's a goal of hers so that's one thing I'd like to do as well. She has French in her blood (laughs).
You can catch Mutemath on their Australian tour in May. They will be appearing at all Groovin' the Moo festivals and a string of headline shows around the country, The first of which will be at The Zoo in Brisbane on the 10th of May.
Press Record's Carly Bennett had a chat with the humourous Buckley Ward about their origins, inspirations and what their future holds.
Tell us a little bit about Buckley Ward. How did it all begin? Jimmy, Tim and Georgie went to school together. Juz and Ren probably went to school although there is no evidence to support this. Either way, they came in later. The mission was fame and fortune. The medium was music. The why was obvious but the how is where it gets interesting. Seriously, we’re open to ideas.
In three words how would you sum up Buckley Ward? Buckley plus Ward.
Buckley Ward fans have already had a taste of the new album with the release of singles “So Pretend” and “Into The Darkening Blue”, what can they expect of the full length album when its released on April 20? The first thing they’ll notice is that it’s longer. Maybe allocate an appropriate amount of time to accommodate for this. Secondly, there are a lot of heavy concepts dealt with on the record so they’ll need to be prepared with appropriate footwear.
Which cities will you be doing live shows in and when does the tour kick off? We’re playing Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Geelong. Geelong was last on the list because it is the shittest place. We kick of in Adelaide on the 28th of April.
What can fans expect of your live show? Any surprises up your sleeves? Nothing too crazy. I wrestle a bear. Tim and Georgie have a domestic argument and the police have to be involved. Juz performs naked and Ren flattens the battery on Tim’s iPad… in space.
You’ve been the opening act for the likes of Jungle Giants and Big Scary, which band or artist would you guys most love to support and why? You mean in like the whole wide world and stuff? Probably the Helio Sequence, only cause they’ve never been over here and we’d love to see them play.
Most memorable gig you’ve played thus far? Got to be the empty warehouse in Brissie. It’s not called that, we just played in a warehouse that was empty. It was supposed to be full.
Where does all your musical inspiration come from? All of it? That’s a tall order. Some of it comes from other music. Some of it comes from the aimlessness of our lonely, pointless existence in the universe that we struggle to comprehend so we hit each other and call each other names to compensate.
Is there one chief songwriter or do you all collaborate evenly? All animals are created equal but some are more equal than others. Does that help? We’re a democracy when it suits.
Any weird pre-gig rituals? We try to eat Mexican as often as we can before gigs. It doesn’t make us play better, we just like Mexican. It usually makes us play worse.
There’s so much diverse Australian music out right now, who is your favourite act at the moment and who should we keep an eye on? Tim Derricourt from Dappled Cities has a side project called Swimwear. I can’t stop listening to it. That cat can write a pop tune.
Best and worst parts about being a muso? Best parts: everything except the money. Worst parts: the money.
What’s next for Buckley Ward? Album comes out April 20. Then I suspect there’ll be a year long international tour followed by allegations of drug use and some celebrity dummy spits. We’ll relocate to LA and bash out a mediocre follow up to mixed reviews. Later, we’ll move home and start a bunch of unsuccessful side projects and eventually one of us will die young. I can’t be certain but I think that’s about 98% accurate.
The Darkness are set to grace Australian shores for the first time since 2006 this May. They are also getting ready to release a new album. Press Record’s Renae Brown woke up drummer Ed Graham to talk about the upcoming tour, new album, hip replacements and fan encounters.
Graham seemed quite relaxed for someone about to release their first album since 2005. He said it had been much easier this time around, ‘album two was a nightmare, this one has been a lot more natural’. Guitarist Dan Hawkins is actually producing it this time around as well but Graham said ‘time is money so we tried to do it in a few weeks but it ended up taking a lot longer than we thought it would; but it’s ready now’.
Even though it’s ready now an album title still hasn’t been decided but the release date is looking to be set for sometime in the next two months.
The band has had members quit, health issues and a disbanding as previous hurdles to their careers. The touring side of The Darkness has changed a considerable amount since the band has reformed. ‘We’re sober now. It’s a very different experience touring sober. We used to be drunk every night. But for the last few tours we’ve done for the entire lot, didn’t have a drop of booze at all. I’d come offstage and just eat sushi (laughs) and drink tea. But it’s obviously for the best’.
Graham said he has no regrets in his life or musical career and his only advice to young musicians starting out was ‘you have to be young and free before you become old and boring. The only advice I’d give is try and enjoy it’.
When quizzed on his favourite place to tour Graham instead raved about The Big Day Out tour and said how they’d love to come back to Australia and play some more festivals.
It was clear how much they appreciate their fans as well. Graham spoke of American fans who travelled to several shows across many states in the US and seemed shocked that fans would spend that much money on the band so they always try and meet those after the show who stay back just to say hello. He also spoke of one extra passionate fan who had all members names tattooed on her stomach but is now heavily pregnant so the names have become a stretched fuzz, ‘It was quite bizarre’ Graham said.
During the US shows earlier in the year they were supported by Foxy Shazam who Graham said gave them a run for their money. Lead singer Justin Edwards did some producing on their new album and helped co-write some of the songs so he chose them as tour support, ‘in the past we’ve had a lot of support bands that aren’t that good. They’re really great!’.
The band has a lot of festivals and touring planned for the rest of the year and won’t be going away again any time soon and seemed to be feeling refreshed, ‘there’s a chemistry between us you can feel’ said Graham.
You can catch The Darkness at Eatons Hill Hotel on May 4th, tickets onsale now!
Stonefield are one of Australia’s biggest touring acts, and one of the best too. Their girl band looks are thrown out the window as soon as you see them perform, transporting you back to the rock rooms of the 70s and 80s. Tom Waterman chatted to Amy Findlay, drums and lead vocals, in the lead up to their Bad Reality EP and eventual album, all about their hardcore touring over the past year, influences and feeling exposed.
I’ve seen your live act about four times now, and each time I noticed the audience seemed to be captivated by your live show, kind of like how I’d imagine the older bands you’re influenced by were seen live. Do you guys notice this? Not really, it’s hard to tell cause I can’t see the crowd well from where I am. We get a great vibe off the crowd though, and everyone gets really into it. It’s good to hear people’s reactions as we play.
You guys tour a whole lot, how many shows have you played in the last year, and what effect do you think that has on your future tunes? We’ve played over 100 shows at least, and it has definitely perfected our new music, it made it really natural. We played with The Deep River Collective, they had an awesome sound with a more jammy kind of vibe, and when we wrote after that show, it had a similar vibe. Each of the EP songs has been influenced by our supports and shows.
I also saw you perform Through the Clover solo on Rockwiz and you weren’t behind the drums. Is it a different experience to be just singing, what was it like? It was completely different the first time I performed like that. I felt pretty naked without my drums. I was much more conscious of everything else, like how I was breathing, but it was really fun. I got a friend to play drums at the Big Day Out so I could enjoy it a little more.
I’ve organised a carpool to see you guys at the One Night Stand later this year. What importance do you think live music has in rural areas such as Dalby? I think it’s awesome to play regionally, the audiences in Perth and Adelaide, as compared to Brisbane and Melbourne are wholly different because they’re more appreciative when gigs come to them. Dalby is going to be crazy.
The new single you guys have released, Bad Reality, is a real banger. You guys seem to evolve with every new song you release, can you feel this evolution? Can we expect similar tracks on the forthcoming EP? We’ve noticed it, it is only natural when you hear all this different music at home and on tour. We speak to our roots and stick to rock, and we always try to move up a level with each new song. The EP’s songs are all quite different. There’s not really another song like Bad Reality.
Why have you guys decided to release an EP then an album? Most new acts chomp at the bit to release a debut LP. For us, we always feel like we need to allow time to grow, and to get more experience for the album. We just want to get it right.
Obviously, you guys are all influenced by the older psychedelic times and what purists would refer to as rock and roll. Who are your favourite influences from these times? Definitely Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Cat Stevens, Fleetwood Mac. Those are the main ones.
When Lotah won Unearthed High a few years ago, which probably seems like eons ago now, what was the first thing that went through your head? I couldn’t believe it, I was shocked. Hearing your songs on the radio is so exciting, it’s an incredible feeling.
Finally, who are your favourite acts on the Australian live music circuit at the moment, apart of course from the awesome Delta Riggs and Kingswood who are supporting you on your new tour. Well I was gonna say, they’re up there with our favourites, we’re excited to get to know them on this tour. The Deep River Collective, Tame Impala, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, they’re all pretty cool. There’s so much great Australian music around.
Friday, May 11, 2012 at 7:26AM 
Press Record had a chat with Sean Pollard of Perth band Split Seconds to catch up on the music scene in Perth, touring and recording some new tracks. 
